The words behind Tidix.

How long an app has been running. Tidix counts it from the start of the app's oldest process still running, helpers included.

Used in: App details

The original form of Bluetooth, also called BR/EDR, built for steady links such as audio. A Classic device announces what it is through its Class of Device.

Used in: Bluetooth

A power-saving form of Bluetooth, introduced with Bluetooth 4.0, for devices that send little data and must make a small battery last. A device can support Classic, Low Energy or both.

Used in: Bluetooth

The unique reverse-DNS name a Mac app declares in its Info.plist, such as com.apple.Safari. Most of the app's preferences, containers and caches are named after it.

Used in: App details

A code a Bluetooth Classic device sends to say what it is, such as a keyboard, headphones or a phone. Devices that use only Low Energy don't send one, so Tidix uses the type macOS reports for them.

Used in: Bluetooth

The low-power cores of an Apple silicon chip, which macOS uses for background and lighter work. Tidix groups their tiles under Efficiency cores, with the group's average load.

Used in: Performance

A separate process an app starts from inside its own bundle to do part of its work, such as rendering web pages. Activity Monitor lists each one on its own row; Tidix adds them up under their app.

Used in: App details

The hottest reading among a chip's temperature sensors at a given moment. Tidix's Thermals chart follows it: the hottest SoC sensor on Apple silicon, the hottest CPU or GPU sensor on an Intel Mac.

Used in: Performance

A .kext bundle that loads code into the macOS kernel itself, the older way to add drivers and low-level features. Apple now steers developers to system extensions and DriverKit, and Tidix shows whether each third-party kext is loaded.

Used in: Apps

A background program that launchd, the macOS service manager, starts for a logged-in user, described by a property list in a LaunchAgents folder. Apps use them for updaters, sync and other helpers.

Used in: Apps

A background program that launchd starts for the whole system rather than one user, even before anyone logs in, described by a property list in a LaunchDaemons folder. Daemons usually run as root, so changing one takes administrator rights.

Used in: Apps

A processor that macOS can schedule work on. On Apple silicon each core is one logical CPU, while an Intel core with Hyper-Threading counts as two; Tidix draws a tile for each one.

Used in: Performance

An app or helper that opens automatically when you log in to your Mac. macOS manages login items in System Settings, under General.

Used in: Apps

How hard macOS has to work to keep memory free, for example by compressing it or moving it to disk. Tidix shows the level macOS reports: normal, warning or critical.

Used in: Performance

How macOS moves memory pages between RAM and storage: a page-in reads a page from disk, and a page-out writes one out to make room. Steady page-outs are a sign that memory is running short.

Used in: Performance

The one-time exchange of keys that lets a Mac and a device trust each other, so they reconnect later without asking. Forgetting a device deletes those keys, so it has to be paired again.

Used in: Bluetooth

A six-digit code used to pair a keyboard: the Mac shows it, you type it on the keyboard and press Return. A related check shows the same code on both sides for you to confirm.

Used in: Bluetooth

The fast, more power-hungry cores of an Apple silicon chip, which take on demanding work. Tidix groups their tiles under Performance cores, with the group's average load.

Used in: Performance

How much CPU time a busy process gets next to the others, set by its nice value from -20 (highest priority) to 20 (lowest); most processes run at 0. Raising the nice value makes a process yield to the rest, and only root can lower it again.

Used in: Processes

A short recording of what each thread of a process is doing, taken many times a second, that shows which functions it spends its time in. Tidix's Sample runs macOS's sample tool for 3 seconds and opens the report as a text file.

Used in: Processes

A short message macOS delivers to a process, such as SIGTERM (quit cleanly), SIGKILL (stop at once, cannot be caught) or SIGSTOP (pause). In Tidix, Quit sends SIGTERM and Force Quit sends SIGKILL.

Used in: Processes

Processes arranged by parent, each one under the process that started it; on a Mac most of them descend from launchd, the first process the kernel starts. In Tidix, the Process tree button shows the Processes list this way.

Used in: Processes

Files an app keeps outside its own bundle, mostly in ~/Library: support folders, caches, preferences, containers, logs, saved window state and cookies. Dragging the app to the Trash leaves them behind.

Used in: App details

Received Signal Strength Indicator: how strong a device's radio signal arrives, in dBm. Readings are negative, and closer to zero is stronger, so -50 dBm beats -80 dBm.

Used in: Bluetooth

Anything set to start on its own when your Mac starts up or you log in: login items, launch agents and daemons, and the extensions apps install. Tidix lists them in the Startup view of its Apps page.

Used in: Apps

Code an app installs to extend macOS from outside the kernel, such as a network filter, a security tool or a DriverKit driver. It replaces many kernel extensions and usually needs your approval in System Settings before it runs.

Used in: Apps

How often a process's threads wake up to run, which keeps the processor from resting and costs energy. Tidix's Wakeups/s column counts context switches per second, an approximation of that activity rather than a direct wakeup count.

Used in: Processes